USB keyboard not working during RH Linux install

[Sunil Kumar K.U.]

Hello All,

I am installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS ver-3 on an rx4640 server and I face the below peculiar problem.

There is a monitor connected to the VGA port and a USB mouse and USB keyboard are connected. When the Linux enabelement kit CD is used to boot the system to install Linux, the keyboard doesn't respond. (I am able to use the keyboard in the EFI Boot Manager menu). After selecting the "Install OS from Distributor Media" the "Do you want to continue" option appears and I can't go forward becase the keyboard doesn't respond. Ultimately I have to hard reset the system and come to the same situation again.

Anybody here faced / rectified this type of a problem? Kindly respond.

Thanks in advance.

Regards/Sunil Kumar

[Ivan Ferreira]

I think that you should double check that the keyboard is the only device selected as input device in EFI (But, as you said that the keyboard responds at EFI, this may not be the issue)

The usb keyboard does work if you boot directly with the Red Hat Installation CD?.

[Sunil Kumar K.U.]

Hello Ivan,

USB keyboard is the only input device selected in EFI. The keyboard doesn't work if the system is booted from Red Hat installation CD also. After booting the system to the installation screen the USB keyboard stops responding.

By the way, the keyboard started working with the Linux Enablement Kit by giving the kernel boot option as "console=ttyS0". After completing this step I am asked to insert the RH installation CD and boot the system from it. Once the system is booted to the installation screen the keyboard stops responding.

Is there a way to redirect the installation console to the ttyS0 which is the MP console of the rx4640 system?

Kindly help...

Thanks in advance for replying.

Sunil Kumar K.U.

[Jon Ward_3]

There are a couple of things you can try.

Make sure that the keyboard and mouse are connected directly to the keyboard and mouse ports on the system. Keyboards should be attached directly, not through a USB hub. If you are using the locally attached keyboard/mouse/vga then you should not be booting with console=ttyS0.

Specifying the use of a serial console (ttyS0) during boot will redirect the installation process to the MP "console" port.

A guide on setting up and installing Linux is available from DSPP:
http://h21007.www2.hp.com/dspp/files/unprotected/linuxjw.pdf

[Steven E. Protter]

Sunil,

I've found that RH simply does not support USB keyboard's during install. I found out this when I tried to use a USB KVM. Did not work at install.

A regular PS/2 keyboard got me through it and the USB keyboard KVM functioned tolerably after initial install.

SEP

[Jon Ward_3]

Red Hat EL does support direct attached UDB keyboards during installation. Most likely the problem is your KVM, though most USB KVMs do work for installation. Keyboards can not be attached via hubs until after the operating system has started.

RHEL3:
https://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-3-Manual/x8664-multi-install-guide/

RHEL4:
https://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-4-Manual/x8664-multi-install-guide/

[Sunil Kumar K.U.]

Hello everybody,

Thanks for your valuable replies and suggestions. I have managed to install RH linux on the system. As I said before when the system is booted from the installation CD1, the install screen appears on the directly connected monitor. The directly attached USB mouse works fine;but the directly attached USB keyboard doesn't work at all. So I dedecided to use terminal based installation and booted the system from CD1 with the bot option

LILO: linux console=ttyS0

The installation screen was redirected to the terminal connected to the serial port1 (the MP serial port in my case).

After completing the installation I saw the below entry in /boot/efi/efi/redhat/elilo.conf.

------------
------------
append="console=ttyS0 root=LABEL=/"

and I could see that the serial port becomes the console when the system boots RH linux. (Of course i get the below on the local monitor:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS release 3 (Taroon)
Kernel 2.4.21-4.EL on an ia64

localhost.localdomain login:

and the keyboard still doesn't work)

I modified /boot/efi/efi/redhat/elilo.conf file to as below

------------
------------
append="root=LABEL=/"

and rebooted the system. Now the graphics login screen appears on the local monitor but the keyboard still doesn't work. (I had selected US English keyboard as the keyboard type in the initail install screen).

Any help...

Thanks in advance for the replies.

Regards/Sunil Kumar

[Sunil Kumar K.U.]

Hello All,

The "locally attached USB keyboard not responding problem" was sorted out by using a USB T-piece. The USB t-piece converts one USB port to two PS/2 ports. This converter was attached to one of the USB ports of the system and a ps/2 mouse and a ps/2 keyboard were attached at the other end of the converter. The keyboard started responding after this.

Anyway, thanks for all the responses. I am closing this thread.

Best Regards,
Sunil Kumar K.U.